Chapter 8: Development of Emotions in Childhood Flashcards
Week 6: Individual Differences
central theoretical question in emotion research
to what extent are emotion-related responses present from an early age and unfold over time vs. are shaped by environmental factors like family, culture, and neighborhood?
crying
one of the earliest emotional expressions in infants, responding to various stimuli
disgust
emerges early as well, seen in newborns reacting to sour tastes, aiding from evolutionary adaptation
developmental emergence of emotions
can be seen as a sequence of steps in building an emotional repertoire to navigate a complex social world
smiles
begin around 3 months, with genuine social smiles emerging in interactions with caregivers by the 3rd month
anger
appears between 4-7 months. linked to means-end thinking and the child’s ability to perceive goal blockage
sadness and fear
emerge around 4 months. when caregivers don’t respond to their overtures, sadness tends to occur. fear increases notably between 4-12 months
separation-related fear
appears universally across cultures, starting toward the end of the first year, peaking around 15 months, and diminishing thereafter. fear in young children has specific neural correlates
surprise
arises from a violation of expectancy and contributes significantly to learning. events that violate infants expectations lead to more exploration and enhanced learning
self-conscious emotions
around 18 months. emotions like embarrassment and envy emerge, accompanied by prosocial emotional tendencies such as empathy and sympathy-based altruism
3 types of prosocial behavior
- offering instrumental help
- offering comfort
- sharing resources
factors influencing sharing
- emotional reward
- perceived resource distribution
- competition
development of consciousness and mentalizing abilities
happens in the second year. allows for experience of embarrassment and the beginning of empathy. these self-conscious emotions are founded on two complementary processes;
- understanding the subjectivity of others experiences
- awareness of the self as perceived by others
self-conscious evaluative emotions
emerge between 2nd and 3rd year. shame, guilt, and regret are expressed. these emotions involve children’s beliefs and reactions to their own selves. the first signs of guilt and shame are seen in 2-year-old children, as seen by gaze aversion and bodily tension upon breaking another child’s toy
theory of mind
ability to understand oneself and others in terms of mental states. is crucial for socio-emotional development.
language and emotional development
language acquisition significantly influences a child’s emotional development, with children starting to talk about emotions and desires around 18 months old
summary of development
habituation method
based on the idea that babies tend to look at new things longer than familiar ones
methods of studying how infants recognized emotions
- habituation method
- noninvasive neuroimaging (fNRIS, EEG, and ERP’s)
emotion face processing
is dominant in the right hemisphere and orbitofrontal cortex regions. infants at risk for autism spectrum disorder show different patterns of brain activation when viewing facial expressions
social referencing
the ability to use the emotional display of others to guide one’s own behavior (e.g., the visual cliff experiment)
Vaishn and Striano
found that infants were more likely to cross the visual cliff in response to maternal vocalization, or a combination of maternal vocalization and facial expressions, than they were to mothers facial expressions alone
preschool age
children start developing a modest ability to label emotional expressions in facial photographs, with happy, sad, and angry being the first emotions identified, followed by scared, surprised, and disgusted
happiness vs fear
happiness needs the fewest signals to be identified, while fear needs the most
discrimination between vocal expressions
studies using EEG have shown that newborns can differentiate between fearful, happy, and neutral voices even during sleep. children with autism spectrum disorder exhibit less ability, even in infancy, to discriminate a sad voice from a neutral one
point-light body (PLB) displays
used to study children’s ability to recognize emotions from body postures and gestures
multimodal recognition of emotions
is observed early on, with 6-month-olds being able to match happy and angry bodily expressions to corresponding vocalizations. however, when modalities are in conflict, infants face challenges in emotion recognition
amygdala
a brain structure involved in detecting emotionally significant events. is fully developed in newborns and plays a role in directing infants attention toward faces
orbitofrontal cortex
implicated in emotion recognition, particularly in response to happy vs. neutral faces in children and adults
negativity bias
when our negative experiences affect us more strongly than positive ones. emerges in infancy. this bias serves an evolutionary purpose, allowing children to quickly learn about threatening situations
emotion regulation
involves processes that control the onset, intensity, duration, physiology, and expression of emotional experiences. these processes can be automatic or voluntary. while individuals may think of emotion regulation in individual terms, it also has interpersonal dimensions
language growth
from 18 months enhances emotion regulation, allowing children to communicate and label emotions
executive function skills
as children mature, executive function skills, including inhibitory control and attentional flexibility, improve, aiding in emotional regulation
cognitive change
refers to altering how we think about a situation or stimulus to modify its emotional impact
affective flexibility
refers to the ability to adaptively switch between different strategies for managing emotions based on the context, goals, and demands of a situation.
vagal tone differences
contribute to emotion regulation variations in infants and preschoolers
effortful control
refers to the ability to deliberately and voluntarily manage emotional responses, thoughts, and behaviors by overriding automatic or impulsive tendencies. is associated with ventromedial prefrontal cortex activity and develops progressively from infancy to early twenties
temperament
genetically based emotional pattern, contribute significantly to emotional development. parents play a crucial role in assessing children’s temperament
behavioral inhibition
is associated with neurobiological factors like the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. these children tend to focus on threatening stimuli
disinhibition
another temperament aspect influencing long-term adaptation. children with disinhibition may show more hostile intent attribution and higher anger levels
heritability
the role of genetics in traits is a significant factor in temperament
molecular genetic studies
including candidate gene studies, genome-wide association studies, and polygenic studies, explore the genetic basis of temperament
serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene
short and long alleles, influencing emotional reactivity. a short ellel is linked to reduced serotonin reuptake and is associated with increased attentional vigilance to negative events.
catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene
related to dopamine degradation, affects emotion regulation
oxytocin
associated with prosocial behavior, altruism, and facial expression recognition. oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) is associated with improved facial emotion recognition
